Card of the Day - 2014 Bowman : Jose Abreu Oversized Purple Ice Autograph (13/25) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Card serialized number 13 is in my collection now and I count myself lucky as I picked this up on a slow day on the bay and thankfully I did as there are only 25 copies so there are only so many chances to big up this "big" card.

This is now my 3rd oversized autographed Bowman card and the highest valued one Beckett book wise. The above picture is being "coined" to show the actual size compared to a traditional sized baseball card and sometimes bigger is better as I love these cards.

When I acquired the Urias version of this card I thought I was done acquiring these big cards but once in hand I had to have them all. With 10 in the set it was a reasonably small project but it being limited to 25 makes it a tad harder to get as they don't show up for sale much. This Jose card is the biggest of the batch so it was a priority right off the bat and thankfully since it is the most popular one more than one copy was available at any given time on eBay. Problem was though I want all these purple cards to be graded for easier storage which meant they cost a little more on the auctions. Thankfully when I zeroed in on this one there was 2 to choose from so I hoped that I could snake this one while others put their attention on the other one. That was the plan and that is what happened to a point.

Quad 9.5's makes it a strong gem mint

The card was on a traditional auction and I expected I would be in some type of small bidding war and to an extent I was as there were 13 bids in total but only 3 people bidding. With literally my last second bid I came out on top and secured this bad boy. This now sits nicely next to my gem mint Urias. 3 down and 7 to go.

10 autograph

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Update Sixteen - 2014 Topps Chrome : Jose Abreu Base Autograph Refractor Parallel (312/499) Now Graded and Slabbed a Gem Mint 9.5

Original Submission Post
Beckett Book Value : $120

We now come to the last non Dodger of the batch and the 2014 AL ROY Jose Abreu.

With so many of his autographs out there now the value of his cards are being watered down but I still had no intention on buying his cards as they didn't hold that much interest to me. Now if I could score it at a major discount and flip it into a gem mint grade and then possibly flip it again for something that does hold my interest then that is another matter all together.

I originally "won" this on a 4 box break held by Alex of Chavez Ravining much to the chagrin of a few people. Though it was a redemption card I had already seen them pop up on eBay so I didn't think it would be that long till Topps redeemed it. I was right as within 2 weeks I had it in my hands and I knew I would submit it for grading. I was confident it would earn a gem mint grade as I was only worried about a small potential flaw on the surface. Guess BGS didn't see or care about it as surface received a perfect 10 as centering did as well. Only knock on the card were the corners which got a 9. No matter as it still ended up being a gem mint card.

A nice investment in a random box break. Was my plan all along and it worked to perfection. Now, to flip or not to flip? You know I will and did.

Birthday 2014 Bowman Chrome Box Break

. . . and I am now officially a member of the big 4-0 club. Thankfully even though my body is 40 my mind is still young. You can ask my friends or wife as they will tell you that I at times do not "act" my age but that will keep me around that much longer as I refuse to be old in mind anytime soon.

The wife and I celebrated my birthday in Vegas this year but before that weekend bash she bought me a few things to open before the trip and low and behold she went out and bought a box of baseball cards. If you read enough of this blog you will know that she is not a Dodger fan (Angels for her) and "refuses" to contribute to anything Dodger but she will support my obsession with baseball so since I am back into the card hobby she was thoughtful and went and bought me a box of the new 2014 Bowman Chrome issue. She actually went into a card shop that I frequent (would have loved to seen that conversation with the owner) and bought the box on her own. Don't I have a great wife??? Thank you again. Love you.

I was hoping for an Urias autograph in the break but sadly it was not meant to be. I/we had fun opening the packs as it has been years since I have opened a full box of chrome. Here are the hits and all of them are up for trade in my new section which I am slowly getting up to speed.

First off are 4 cards that are not considered hits though.

My favorite picture in the whole box.

This is how I felt when I unwrapped my present and saw a box of cards.

Fist pump and a hell ya

The whole box only yielded 2 Dodgers

Whaaaa?

Base rookie of Yankee Tanaka

Refractor Parallel of Met's Zack Wheeler

78 / 500

Blue Refractor parallel of Red's Cingrani

88 / 250

Purple refractor of Yankee's Fred Lewis

27 / 150

Bowman is Back insert of Tanaka

Dual-Ing Die Cuts Insert of Taijuan Walker and George Springer

Mini Chrome insert of Stanton

Even though this is not an autograph card it is by far my favorite card of the box

Being ROY Abreu is just a cherry on top.

Love this "melting" card look.

.

Each box is "guaranteed" two autographs and once again I was hoping to score that Urias color parallel but I did not. Then I was hoping to score one of those random Kris Bryant autographs but did not get a hit on that as well. You can't have it all I guess but I still did get my two autographs and here they are.

Twins prospect Kohl Stewart

177 / 225

Cardinals prospect Breyvic Valera

174 / 500

Nothing spectacular on the autograph front but they are autographs and I am sure I can flip them to someone that can fill some of my Dodger needs.

Well that is it for my Bowman Chrome box break. Had a great time ripping packs and once again I thank my wife for indulging my wants when it comes to cards. She doesn't have to but likes to and I love here for that. Had great birthday gifts and a great time in Vegas and most of it was due to her. 

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps Chrome : Jose Abreu Base Autograph Refractor Parallel ( 312 / 499 )

2 Topps redemptions arriving in one week is a cause for celebration, but 2 top line autographs from Topps is a slice of heaven. Julio Urias's Bowman Black autograph arrived on a Saturday and then this great looking Jose Abreu autograph came in on a Tuesday.

I was lucky enough to pull the redemption card for this card from a 4 box break that Alex of Chavez Ravining held a little more than a month ago. It was the only reason I joined the box break to get an autograph from this sure to be rookie of the year. Alex took the Dodgers in the break so I was left with my choice of the other 29 teams. The White Sox was the only logically choice for me as for the Angels I wasn't sure Mike Trout was going to be represented by an autograph ( he was ) but I knew Jose would be. Prices for Jose's autographs have ranged from $100 to $250 when it comes to base and refractor parallels. I was never going to pay for his autograph but if I could score it in a box break whether from Alex or anyone else then I would be happy with that. Well I was lucky and now I am happy that I have it in hand.

My intention all along was to have this graded and hopefully it would come from Topps in great condition and it would grade out to gem mint by BGS. I think there is a very good shot of that happening ( more so than the redemption Urias card ) as the centering is spot on, edges are flawless, corners are sharp ( maybe downgraded to a 9 but nothing less ) and the surface looks clean. The autograph is in perfect condition and I can say I would be disappointed if it doesn't get a 9.5 overall but we shall see in a couple of weeks when I send in my last big batch.

312

of

499

4 Box Break Results of 2014 Topps Chrome

Alex of Chavez Ravining held a four box break of 2014 Topps Chrome a little while ago and I had two entries in the mix. Since Alex was hosting/breaking the boxes he obviously had first dibs on what team he wanted which of course were the Dodgers. I still wanted in on the action so I strategically picked the White Sox and the Yankees. With each paid entry you also received a second team so I had a total of four teams when I was randomly given the Twins and the Braves. A week prior to the break I swapped out from the Yankees to the Tigers as my plan to land two hot rookies had to be adjusted. Since I didn't have the Dodgers I wanted to acquire autograph rookie cards of White Sox star Jose Abreu and Yankees star Masahiro Tanaka. Well the checklist came out and Tanaka was no where to be seen so I didn't want the Yanks anymore and switched over to the Tigers as they had some decent autographs to go after. The big fish for me still was probable rookie of the year Jose Abreu. Crossing my fingers for that autograph. Here is what I came away with :

First off are the "lowly" Twins and not much of them were in the four boxes as I ended up with 5 base cards and a refractor of Joe Mauer.

Next up would be the Braves but Alex and I did a trade after the break so I don't know what and who were in it other than there were no autographs. Again, I only had one horse in this race and didn't worry about anything else per se. More on that trade later.

Base Tigers . . .

. . . and some more base Tigers

Die cut refractor of Kinsler

2 Refractors and a X-Frator

The Tigers yielded the most cards out of the break for me but of course that is to be expected as they had a lot of players on the checklist. Obviously as a non Tiger fan any and all of these are available for trade and if not I will pay if forward and contest them out.

71 of 199

... but the Tigers didn't leave me empty handed. I did score this nice blue refractor of Nick Castellanos. Hobby wise he has dropped quite a bit from last year when he was a hot rookie that was chased after. He has no place in my collection so again if anyone is interested in a trade feel free to contact me. 

Now for the trade with Alex. Again I had no use for the Braves so taking them off my hand was a plus but getting wanted cards was even better. He offered me a couple cards that I couldn't say no to.

Another Onelki autograph for the collection

138 of 199 

I have so many Onelki autographs but with no use for Brave cards why not take another autograph of a Dodger? At worst it can be trade bait down the road. The card I really wanted though was the blue Puig as I am still collecting all blue and black parallels of Dodgers in all chrome products. Why pay $10ish for the card on the bay when I can just swap out unwanted cards with a fellow blogger that doesn't need/want the Puig? Easy trade and I happily took the Puig of Alex's hands.

Onto the White Sox and my dreams with an Abreu autograph still dancing in my head.

Unlike the Tigers I did not end up with a lot of White Sox. I did get a base Jose Abreu card which books for $10 but it is not centered. Never entertained the idea of grading it but I would like all my cards centered but lets be real that is not realistic. As with the Tiger cards, all except the Abreu card is available for trade. 

Well all the cards have been accounted for with one last one which I believe was in box 2 ...

OOOHHH.....YYYEEEAAAHHH !!!

The card/autograph that I wanted and desired and basically the only reason I joined the break and I was lucky enough to score it. Not only is it an autograph of Abreu but it is the numbered ( #/499 ) and limited refractor parallel. The card currently books for $200 but can be had for a lot cheaper on eBay but I didn't pay anywhere near that in this break. My plan worked to perfection and I couldn't be happier.

Thank you again to Alex for hosting the box break and hopefully next year I can pull the same magic once again.